Academician Ivan Ilchev, Head of the “Heritage BG” Centre of Excellence, was on a working visit to China from 18 to 30 May at the invitation of Capital Normal University in Beijing and Beijing Foreign Studies University.
Acad. Ilchev delivered a series of five lectures on the history of the Balkan peoples for students and PhD students and discussed the possibilities of deepening cooperation with the Center for the Study of Civilizations at Capital Normal University. During the visit, it was agreed to hold a summer school for PhD students and postdocs Homo Balkanicus in the autumn of 2025 at the base of the University of Sofia in the village of Slaveyno. By the end of June, the status of a joint institute for cultural heritage management between the Centre of Excellence and Capital Normal University should be discussed and adopted.
On the initiative of the Chinese side, the celebration of Bulgarian culture on May 24 was marked with a scientific session dedicated to the “The Rose of the Balkans” book published a few months ago in Chinese. The session was attended by directors and deputy directors of institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, of various universities, PhD students, students and the management of the World Affair Press publishing house which had published the book in six thousand copies. Participants in the discussion, among whom was the doyen of Balkan studies in China, Professor Ma Sipu, made a number of recommendations, stressed that this was the first history of China by a Bulgarian author to appear in the last six decades and recommended going for a second edition.
During his visit, Acad. Ivan Ilchev received an invitation to write a chapter in China’s first textbook on the history of the Balkans.
